By Erik Wasson and Kay Kimsong
THE CAMBODIA DAILY
An estimated 4,000 residents will be displaced from their homes near Phnom Penh's Boeng Kak lake as part of a massive redevelopment of the area, which will require the filling in of all but 10 hectares of the currently 90-hectare lake, municipal officials said this week.
The drastic reduction in size of Boeng Kak lake, the main center of the capital's budget tourism sector, will require the construction of a new drainage canal connected to Pong Peay lake in nearby Tuol Kok district, Phnom Penh Deputy Governor Pa Socheatvong said Monday.
A South Korean and Cambodian joint venture firm, World City Co, which plans to build a $2 billion satellite city on a filled-in section of Pong Peay lake, has agreed to build the canal. Pa Socheatvong said.
The Boeng Kak redevelopment project was officially approved by the municipality in April, although Pa Socheatvong said no start date has yet been announced.
World City is now completing the filling-in of 119 hectares on the eastern shore of Pong Peay lake, much of which had already been filled in by private individuals who had grabbed it when it was a public lake.
Pa Socheatvong said the private sections of what was once the lake were grabbed during a situation of "anarchy" over several years by private individuals. The land has since been sold legally to World City by people whose names he claimed not to know, for a price of which he was unaware.
"World City has reached a compromise with the owners of the [lake] land," he said.
Out on Pong Peay lake on Tuesday, the land-filling for the "New Town Project" continued at a fast pace.
Every few minutes, dump trucks employed by GAPO Enterprises carried sandy soil from Kob Srov in Dangkao district and continued to fill the lake.
Military police guarding the site said that a South Korean minister would inaugurate the site in December, at which point land-filling would be complete and buildings and a road linked to National Route 5 would be in place.
Pa Socheatvong, however, said that the final plans for the satellite city had not in fact been approved by the municipality and would not be until the long-delayed Phnom Penh Master Plan, currently under review by the Ministry of Land Management is finalized.
World City Co representative Saeho Choi cancelled two appointments with reporters this week and last to discuss the $2 billion project.
In September, Saeho Choi said the South Korean investor in New Town Project was Hanmil-Parsons, a subsidiary of US-based construction giant Parsons. Parsons did not reply to e-mailed requests for comment at that time.
South Korean Embassy Second Secretary Kim In-kook said on Tuesday that he could not comment on South Korean investment in the satellite city.
Pa Socheatvong said Phnom Penh did not forfeit anything from private individuals filling in a public lake and then selling it to a foreign land development firm.
"I don't see how the city lost any money on this, we didn't pay anything," he said, adding that the lack of a master plan for Phnom Penh had allowed the "anarchy" that permitted individuals to fill in the lake.
Pa Socheatvong added that 157 hectares of Pong Peay lake would remain as a city-owned body of water.
In 2005, Russei Keo district bureau chief of land management Hen Bakkong said that 200 hectares of the lake had been bought by RCAF Commander-in-Chief Ke Kim Yan. Ke Kim Yan denied the charge at the time.
Boeng Kak, meanwhile, will be dramatically altered by the concession to a different developer.
Currently it is 90 hectares in size, but 80 hectares will be filled in, leaving only a 10-hectare lake, Pa Socheatvong said. In total, the approved plan covers 133 hectares of land and will leave the current lakeside backpacker district, and other lakeside homes, far from the shore.
"Now the lake is filthy, it will become clean for recreation," the deputy governor said.
The filling-in of Boeng Kak will not cause flooding in Phnom Penh, he said. "This is not the place where water collects. It is actually very shallow," he added.
According to a signed map of the project on display in Pa Socheatvong's office, the entire western, northern and eastern shores of the future Boeng Kak lake will be given over to parkland ringed by "high class resident" housing.
The governor would not reveal the exact name of the area's developer or give contact information for it but claimed it was a Cambodian firm.
"There are 4,000 people living there. Some live on state land so it is easy to solve. Others live on private land so it is more difficult," he said of Boeng Kak's residents.
To offer locals an example of one possible solution, City Hall officials took residents living near Boeng Kak lake on Tuesday to tour social housing being set up by the Phanimex company in the former Borei Keila sports complex.
A total of 1,776 families at Borei Keila will move into new apartments on the site of their former homes beginning in October.
"We just show them one of many style solutions for squatter communities," Deputy Municipal Governor Mann Chhoeun said.
Chhay Thirith, chief of Boeng Kak's Srash Chak commune, said he liked the idea of having on-site housing as part of the redevelopment, rather than being relocated to the outskirts of the city.
"We are poor people, we don't want to move from our place like Sambok Chap," said resident Pheng Pirany, referring to the forced eviction of 1,200 residents and thousands more renters from Tonle Bassac commune in May and June to Dangkao district.
Not all Boeng Kak residents are happy with the proposal, however.
"We want compensation for our homes, between $15,000 and $30,000," said Yin Soeung Khem, 47, a motorbike taxi driver. "We do not want to live all together in one building like at a hospital."
The drastic reduction in size of Boeng Kak lake, the main center of the capital's budget tourism sector, will require the construction of a new drainage canal connected to Pong Peay lake in nearby Tuol Kok district, Phnom Penh Deputy Governor Pa Socheatvong said Monday.
A South Korean and Cambodian joint venture firm, World City Co, which plans to build a $2 billion satellite city on a filled-in section of Pong Peay lake, has agreed to build the canal. Pa Socheatvong said.
The Boeng Kak redevelopment project was officially approved by the municipality in April, although Pa Socheatvong said no start date has yet been announced.
World City is now completing the filling-in of 119 hectares on the eastern shore of Pong Peay lake, much of which had already been filled in by private individuals who had grabbed it when it was a public lake.
Pa Socheatvong said the private sections of what was once the lake were grabbed during a situation of "anarchy" over several years by private individuals. The land has since been sold legally to World City by people whose names he claimed not to know, for a price of which he was unaware.
"World City has reached a compromise with the owners of the [lake] land," he said.
Out on Pong Peay lake on Tuesday, the land-filling for the "New Town Project" continued at a fast pace.
Every few minutes, dump trucks employed by GAPO Enterprises carried sandy soil from Kob Srov in Dangkao district and continued to fill the lake.
Military police guarding the site said that a South Korean minister would inaugurate the site in December, at which point land-filling would be complete and buildings and a road linked to National Route 5 would be in place.
Pa Socheatvong, however, said that the final plans for the satellite city had not in fact been approved by the municipality and would not be until the long-delayed Phnom Penh Master Plan, currently under review by the Ministry of Land Management is finalized.
World City Co representative Saeho Choi cancelled two appointments with reporters this week and last to discuss the $2 billion project.
In September, Saeho Choi said the South Korean investor in New Town Project was Hanmil-Parsons, a subsidiary of US-based construction giant Parsons. Parsons did not reply to e-mailed requests for comment at that time.
South Korean Embassy Second Secretary Kim In-kook said on Tuesday that he could not comment on South Korean investment in the satellite city.
Pa Socheatvong said Phnom Penh did not forfeit anything from private individuals filling in a public lake and then selling it to a foreign land development firm.
"I don't see how the city lost any money on this, we didn't pay anything," he said, adding that the lack of a master plan for Phnom Penh had allowed the "anarchy" that permitted individuals to fill in the lake.
Pa Socheatvong added that 157 hectares of Pong Peay lake would remain as a city-owned body of water.
In 2005, Russei Keo district bureau chief of land management Hen Bakkong said that 200 hectares of the lake had been bought by RCAF Commander-in-Chief Ke Kim Yan. Ke Kim Yan denied the charge at the time.
Boeng Kak, meanwhile, will be dramatically altered by the concession to a different developer.
Currently it is 90 hectares in size, but 80 hectares will be filled in, leaving only a 10-hectare lake, Pa Socheatvong said. In total, the approved plan covers 133 hectares of land and will leave the current lakeside backpacker district, and other lakeside homes, far from the shore.
"Now the lake is filthy, it will become clean for recreation," the deputy governor said.
The filling-in of Boeng Kak will not cause flooding in Phnom Penh, he said. "This is not the place where water collects. It is actually very shallow," he added.
According to a signed map of the project on display in Pa Socheatvong's office, the entire western, northern and eastern shores of the future Boeng Kak lake will be given over to parkland ringed by "high class resident" housing.
The governor would not reveal the exact name of the area's developer or give contact information for it but claimed it was a Cambodian firm.
"There are 4,000 people living there. Some live on state land so it is easy to solve. Others live on private land so it is more difficult," he said of Boeng Kak's residents.
To offer locals an example of one possible solution, City Hall officials took residents living near Boeng Kak lake on Tuesday to tour social housing being set up by the Phanimex company in the former Borei Keila sports complex.
A total of 1,776 families at Borei Keila will move into new apartments on the site of their former homes beginning in October.
"We just show them one of many style solutions for squatter communities," Deputy Municipal Governor Mann Chhoeun said.
Chhay Thirith, chief of Boeng Kak's Srash Chak commune, said he liked the idea of having on-site housing as part of the redevelopment, rather than being relocated to the outskirts of the city.
"We are poor people, we don't want to move from our place like Sambok Chap," said resident Pheng Pirany, referring to the forced eviction of 1,200 residents and thousands more renters from Tonle Bassac commune in May and June to Dangkao district.
Not all Boeng Kak residents are happy with the proposal, however.
"We want compensation for our homes, between $15,000 and $30,000," said Yin Soeung Khem, 47, a motorbike taxi driver. "We do not want to live all together in one building like at a hospital."
3 comments:
I wish all Khmers who are non-CPP to be united in order to win the next general election.It means those who will not vote for CPP won't fight each other and hold their hand to liberate our Homeland from.....? in order to promote prosperity to our people.And I also bag to those opportunist politicians of the Non- CPP's party to quit politic in 2008'election including Mr. Sam Rainsy who are trying to cheat our courageous Khmer Activists.
I wish NO:FUNCINPEC-CPP's government, NO:SAMRAINGSY-CPP's government and NO:FUNCINPEC-SAMRAINGSY-CPP'S government.
I wish after 2008's election Cambodia will be independent for the second time!!!!
A Khmer Patriotist
this will do wonders for phnom penh's drainage.
pa shocheatvong should be shot.
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